Apparently there was this thing called “American Idol” on TV last night, which I hadn’t heard of due to a complete lack of any press coverage of the thing.* More Americans voted for their pop Idol than did for their President which makes we wonder if Kelly Clarkson might not yet occupy the Oval Office. (On the other hand, I’d like to see Simon Cowell as Secretary of Defense. I can just imagine it now — “That was the worst act of terrorism I have ever seen. Really, crashing planes into buildings? That’s so 2001. Utterly pathetic.”)
Of course, Alexis de Tocqueville is rotating in his grave fast enough to power a small city. I mean, c’mon, why on Earth did the 63+ million American Idol voters end up voting for a man who could be the President of the Leo Laporte Lookalikes Club? Then again, it’s nice to know he has a career after leaving TechTV.
All this does give me an idea – why not just turn politics into it’s own pop-star talent search schlockfest? I mean really, could we do much worse? Let’s face it, who’s going to be the tougher moderator, boring Bob Schieffer or Simon Cowell? You know damn well that both Bush and Kerry wouldn’t have stood a chance. Let’s face it, American Idol is already turning into another political contest as it is, why not just combine the two and get it all out of the way? At least we’d get more civic participation if we forced John McCain and Hillary Clinton to perform a duet of I Got You Babe – and it would also be hilarious.
When politics has already become a form of mass entertainment, one might as well just go with the flow. When The Daily Show is the most respected news source in the country and political parties inspire the same kind of blind loyalism usually reserved for the hometown football team, the idea that American democracy is somehow above the machinations of wannabe pop stars already flew out the window long ago. Given the choice between the Soul Patrol and MoveOn.org, I’d choose the former any day.
* For the sarcasm impaired, yes, that is sarcasm.
Please don’t forget the fact that 65% of the Idol voters aren’t old enough to vote.
Joaquin:
It’s amazing that you can get young people to vote for American Idol, but you can’t get them to the voting booth. You’d think that an ad campaign telling them how their parents and grandparents are disenfranchising them and spending away their future earnings would be enough to pry them off the couch and get them into the voting booth… but it seems the only time American youth get remotely interested in politics is when they’re threatened with a draft. Contrast with French youth, who will riot in the street at the drop of a hat (and I’m thinking more of the student riots of the 1960’s, French youth, not the recent muslim riots)…
Eh, who needs politics when you have 200 cable channels to watch, an XBox and YouTube?
Jay,
You aren’t kidding about that guy being a Leo Laporte lookalike. That is just a little weird…
“…[T]he idea that American democracy is somehow above the machinations of wannabe pop stars already flew out the window long ago…”
How do you think Bush himself got elected in the first place, my dears? Could it have had anything to do with the idea that he was a good guy to have a barbeque and a beer with, before you settled down to watch the football game together? Bush is nothing more than a pop star politician, a fad of the week (year?) that everyone is now starting to regard with more than a little morning-after contempt.
There is, of course, an element of truth to that. However, it cuts both ways. Kerry only got the nomination in 2004 because Dean imploded, and the Democrats thought that he was more “electable” because he had served in Vietnam. It wasn’t because he had anything close to a coherent set of policies. In the end, Kerry’s own inability to articulate any coherent alternative and his “global test” gobbletygook caused him to lose the election.
Very few elections in this country come down to anything of substance, which is one of the reason our democracy is in the shabby condition it’s in.
Kerry lost because of his Brahman accent and snobbish wife….and the fact that he was a “Yankee” demagogued as the most liberal Senator in the country. It all comes down frivolous symbollism in Presidential elections, which is one more reason why Hillary Clinton (or any woman running against a man) will lose in a Presidential election in this country. Do you really believe there were any undecided voters who broke for Bush based on Kerry’s “global test” misstatement?
Yes. That moment cemented the Bush team’s argument that Kerry’s foreign policy would be run out of Brussels and Turtle Bay rather than Washington. It may not have swung the election, but it kept Bush’s piss-poor debate performance from sinking him.
The “More Americans voted for their pop Idol than did for their President ” line needs clarified.
“American Idol” the show, received 63 million. Taylor received more than 50% of those, let’s say 35 million. Over 120 million votes are cast in a Presidential election. The largest any one candidate has received is 62.5 million. Plus, the peak viewer-ship for Idol was only 43 million. Remember, viewers can vote multiple times for their favorite Idol, whereas you can vote once for your President.
So, the way they phrased it on the show was VERY specific. “More votes were cast [Tuesday night], than any president in the history of our country has received.”
Hola me encanta el trabajo que estan haciendo y me encantaria poder participar.